Don't Say You Love Me

Chapter NINE

Teegan

"Okay, tell me everything!" Kiara yells into my ear, almost as soon as she answers my call the next morning.

I want - no, need - to tell her everything, so I start with working at the rental hut, and meeting Luke, and going to the party with Lola and her friends.

"Lola's being nice to you? That's a strange turn of events," Kiara says, when I pause to get her reaction.

"Well, not really nice. It's still basically tolerating my existence," I say and then laugh. "She ditched me as soon as we got to the party, not that I cared. I got a drink with her friend, Riss, who seems pretty cool. But then I went to sit by the fire pit that these guys were, you know, manning. And one of the guys was Luke."

"I keep hearing about Luke. Is he a potential guy of interest?" Kiara asks, and I hear some noise in the background. "Sorry, hold on, I'm just going into the coffee shop to grab some lattes for my boss and her assistant. I'm kind of like the assistant's assistant."

"It's Saturday," I say, because that's all I need to say.

"Yeah. I'm only working until noon." She says this like it's no big deal. "Anyway, Luke?"

"Yeah... no. He seemed cool, but... before I knew what was happening, this girl was throwing a whole cup of beer at me and -"

"What?"

"Yeah. Luke has a crazy girlfriend, that he failed to mention," I finish. "It was embarrassing and I pretty much left after that."

"Ah, shit. Well, there's always other parties. Other guys?" Kiara goes on. "Yes, two chai lattes, large. Thanks."

"I don't know. I've been here a week. Things at the house are going well. Like with my mom, and the kids. But I'm not sure about the social aspect this summer, at all," I admit.

"I'm glad things are going well, there. You can last seven weeks, I know you can. And then we'll be reunited!" Kiara yells the last part and I have to pull my phone away from my ear.

"Yes. Okay, text me later or tomorrow?" I ask and she agrees before we end the call.

I didn't sleep well last night, at all. After walking home from the party covered in sticky beer, a shower, and talking to the random guy outside, I laid in bed for over two hours, staring at the ceiling. Every time I closed my eyes I felt panic, so I opened them again. And thus I saw 3:46A.M. before I finally crashed. And then, of course, I woke up at 7:08A.M. for absolutely no reason. 

Talking to Kiara made me feel better, at least for the time being. But she's busy out in New York, even working on Saturday, apparently, and I have to try to get through this day on such little sleep.

But Saturday means Josie and Oscar are around all day, and I'm by no means upset about that. It's wild that I find myself looking forward to spending time with them, pretty much since that morning that I took them outside in the storm. They are always happy to see me. I am their fun big sister and this is the first year they aren't "babies". They are both out of diapers, they don't need naps. I wasn't expecting this type of relationship with them, but I'm happy about it.

"Teeegan!" Oscar's voice fills the room as I walk into the kitchen, just half hour after I wake up. His blond hair is so messy and his eyes are so big and cheerful.

For some reason, I was thinking I'd be the only one up this early. But it seems like my mom and the kids have been awake for awhile. She's hovering at the stove, and looks over her shoulder at me, smiling.

"You don't sleep in?" she asks, as if she hasn't seen me at 7A.M. every morning so far. "I tried to keep them quiet, but they are up at 6:30A.M. no matter what."